Ordinary diners who take part in our annual survey each spring review restaurants and leave their feedback, but we also ask them to score restaurants from 1-5 on food, service and ambience. Harden’s then uses an average of these scores and measures them against other establishments in the same price bracket to arrive at the ratings published in the guide and online.

Snippets from some of your feedback may end up in the overall Harden’s review, noticeably they appear in “double quotation marks”. The rest of our pithy, bite-sized restaurant summaries are compiled by analysing the survey data and extracting recurring themes, looking at whether or not a venue was nominated in any of our categories – like ‘favourite’ or ‘most overpriced’ – and, of course, looking at the ratings for food, service and ambience.

The Harden’s ratings indicate that a restaurant is:

exceptional very good good average poor

All reviews are compiled from survey comments and ratings, without any regard for our own personal opinions, except in cases where restaurants are too new to have been included in the survey. If you want the editors’ view on new restaurants in London you can find them in our Editors’ Review section.

Moor Hall

British, Modern restaurant in Aughton

Harden's
survey result

Summary

“A new star is born in the North West” at ex-L’Enclume head chef, Mark Birchall’s new restaurant-with-rooms, which opened just prior to our survey in March 2017 and instantly inspired a good number of reports saying that “so far, it shows amazing promise”; and, at a regional level, “is a gamechanger for West Lancashire (with Liverpool just 10 miles to the south)”. The main building – a Grade II-listed gentry house – is “already lovely” and reviewers “can’t wait to see new developments on the site unfold” as “The Barn (a 65-seater, providing more casual dining, as well as a small dairy, bakery, curing room and mini-brewery) and the planting of the large kitchen garden is completed”. “Service is full of care and love”; if “some of the staff are recognisable from L’Enclume, so is the faultless food”, which is “delivered with the style and panache” one would expect (“open only a few weeks and already some the best food I have ever eaten”). “The cheese room is a fun addition” too. “All in all, it’s an exceptional experience (and one more relaxed than L’Enclume too)”. STOP PRESS – at the end of October 2017, The Barn opened.

Price

£93

££££

Food

5

Exceptional

Service

5

Exceptional

Ambience

4

Very Good

* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

Summary

Simon Rogan’s one-time righthand man Mark Birchall (former exec chef at L’Enclume) sets out to open his own restaurant-with-rooms at this Grade II-listed Lancastrian gentry house. An opening date of 1 February, 2017 has been set for his 50-seater, glass-walled dining room (with adjacent cheese and wine rooms) and a more informal eatery in a nearby barn is pencilled in for later in the year.

For 27 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. This year diners have submitted over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK.

Have you eaten at Moor Hall?

Share

Owner's description

Our outstanding team strive to provide exceptional service to our guests. The largest table available in the restaurant is for 6 guests. For larger parties we offer ‘The Argonne Room’ seating up to 14 guests. If you have any food allergies or dietary requirements, please inform us when booking. We offer a full vegetarian menu option.

Lunch

3 course menu costs £40 per person

5 course tasting menu costs £70 per person

8 course tasting menu costs £105 per person

Lunch reservation times are from 12pm to 2pm.

Dinner

The Moor Hall 8 course tasting menu costs £105 per person.

We also offer a 5 course tasting menu costing £70 per person

Dinner reservation times are from 6.30pm to 9.30pm

Please note:

All diners on a table are required to select the same menu.

On Friday and Saturday evenings only Menu 8 is available.

Menu 8 is available during lunch service for bookings between 12pm and 1pm.

A discretionary service charge of 12.5% is added to all restaurant and bar bills, all of which goes to our staff.

Current menus

The chef

Mark was born in Chorley, Lancashire and trained at Runshaw College. He was most recently Executive Chef of 2 Michelin Star L’Enclume in Cumbria and won the Roux Scholarship, the premier competition for chefs in the UK in 2011. He also worked at El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, a 3 Michelin Star Restaurant owned by the Roca Brothers, twice voted the world’s best restaurant.

Mark’s menus showcase his own style of modern British cuisine, wherever possible using produce grown on the 5 acre Moor Hall site or from local suppliers, and reflecting the broad culinary experience he has garnered over the last 15 years.

Private dining

THE ARGONNE ROOM

The Argonne Room is a cosy private dining space, with views out over our exquisite grounds and seats 7 to 14 guests, perfect for that private function or intimate celebration.

Moor Hall Restaurant Diner Reviews

Reviews of Moor Hall Restaurant in L39, Aughton by users of Hardens.com. Also see the editors review of Moor Hall restaurant.

Mike E

Expensive, but then you pay for such excell...

Reviewed 4 months, 19 days ago

"Expensive, but then you pay for such excellence. This is food of "L'Enclume" standard - on steroids."

Report this comment

Malcolm C

Disappointing food - only very good - not e...

Reviewed 4 months, 28 days ago

"Disappointing food - only very good - not excellent:
Starter 1 soup not hot
Main 1 duck breast slices only small, and not outstanding in taste.
Main 2 fillet cooked medium (pink inside) but dry brown on outer surface
Accompanying green beans too 'al dente'
Dessert 1 tart absolutely bare on plate (with sorbet)- no soft fruit, jus or dusting
All in all: Moor Hall failed to meet our food expectations, failed to justify its prices and didn't do its surroundings justice.
(We Northerners prefer to eat at Bolton Abbey, Cartmel, Portmeirion or Prestonfields even though Moor Hall is nearer)."

Report this comment

IAN H

3 visits in 3 months and every time spot on...

Reviewed 11 months, 5 days ago

"3 visits in 3 months and every time spot on with food+ service and the ambience is superb
Mark makes great contact with his customers and the half open kitchen works extremely well.
They even manage to serve one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten even if I can not quite gets to grips with the boiled egg served on hay!
The wine service is par excellence and they even enthuse if you take a bottle of your own and the corkage is reasonable considering the ambience and service
Our new favourite restaurant in the North West"